Text © World of Showjumping

With a lightning-fast round, no one could match Mexico’s Eugenio Garza Perez and the 16-year-old gelding Victer Finn DH Z’s (Va Vite x Stakkato) time in Wednesday’s CSIO5* 1.50m Prize of StädteRegion Aachen in memory of Landrat Hermann-Josef Pütz at the 2024-edition of CHIO Aachen. 

The two-phase class went from fast to faster, and a neat and quick round from style-icon McLain Ward (USA) and First Lady (Don Diarado x Lordanos) – 16th to go out of the 50 in the class – in 29.08 seconds did only hold for first until Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and Dhalida (Diamant de Semilly x Calvaro Z) as next to go shaved the time to beat down to 29.03. Although Pessoa’s lead was not as short-lived as Ward’s he had to see himself pushed down from first by Garza Perez who blazed around the second phase in an unbelievable 27.03 seconds, cheered on by his family, friends and fans. 

"Honestly, it was one of those rounds where everything came up just right," Eugenio Garza Perez explained to World of Showjumping. "The inside turn, we were sceptical about it at first, but he is so quick. He is so fast and such an amazing horse, with him you can actually do it. I could compromise the oxer before it, so he landed really good and then we got a great turn out of that." 

"He has been a long-time partner of mine," Garza Perez said about his horse Victer Finn DH Z. "He has been inconsistent with injuries pretty much his whole life unfortunately, but I think he is one of the best horses I have ever had. He is just an all-around amazing horse; competitive, brave, scopey and fast. I cannot speak highly enough about him."

"I think it is every rider's dream to win at Aachen," Garza Perez went on to add. "To hear your country's national anthem played here is definitely something special. This was a check on the bucket list for sure." 

Germany’s own Richard Vogel is on a roll in Aachen, and came close to another win when he and Cydello (Cascadello x Forsyth FRH) crossed the finish line 0.64 seconds behind Garza Perez with the Aachen-crowds cheering and whistling them on down the last line in the hope of another home victory. This time though, the home hero had to settle for second. With only a few left to go, Ben Maher (GBR) and Exit Remo (San Remo x Ferro) gave it a good shot but slotted into third when clocking a time of 28.71 seconds, pushing Pessoa down to fourth and Ward to fifth.